Park Service painted the boardwalk on the MVT near Roosevelt Island

[Dirt]

A while back the park service painted part of the boardwalks on the Mount Vernon Trail. The paint was to help preserve the wood. Unfortunately, the paint they used made the wood so slippery when wet, that people had trouble walking on it, much less ride a bike on it.

Well they’ve done it again. Be extremely careful tomorrow. They painted only the area where bikes need traction the most. If you experience trouble with this, you might want to contact the park service at the thread stuck to the top of the Road and Trail Conditions section.

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

Topic

[bikesnick]

the workers who were painting it on tuesday told us the paint cost $100 per gallon.

/bs

[CCrew]

@bikesnick 7531 wrote:

the workers who were painting it on tuesday told us the paint cost $100 per gallon.

/bs

That’s the govt cost. That means $3 a gallon for you and me

[Dirt]

They have to search high and low for paint that is super slippery.

Totally joking there.

MarkieMark told me that they added grit to it so it isn’t so slippery. I will snuggle with it this morning and see if that’s the case. It would be cool if it is!!! Preserved wood that is actually grippy. Me likey that idea.

Fondly,

Pete

(PS: I still think we’re all gonna die.)

[Dirt]

Mr. Mark and the park service are 100% correct!!! The paint is super nicely textured. I snugged with it for a while this morning and came up all frictiony. Fewer people will crash on that… and when they do, their skin will be lovingly removed. Take it easy through there.

I took time out of my busy day to snuggle with the boardwalk.

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

[americancyclo]

just in time for all the rain!

Pete- the pic kinda looks like you are happy to have fallen off your bike on the slippery paint.

[Dirt]

I couldn’t be happier.

I love being ambiguous.

—
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.895386,-77.029838

[Dirt]

Lumbered through here this morning at about 0715 and there were 2 people on the deck and a third calling for help. Stopped to ask if anyone needed anything. They all said that they were okay and help was on the way. One dude holding his head. Chick on the deck was just chilling out and assessing the damage.

Bottom line: Textured paint may help…. but in this case I think it only helped shred people’s nice winter clothing.

Be careful out there. I love y’all too much to see you fall down go boom.

Pete

[americancyclo]

Whenever I come into this intersection from the bridge, I always slow down
1. the deck can be slippery.
2. people coming from the south on MVT often don’t stop or look to see folks like me coming down from the bridge.
3. joggers never look.

[JeffC]

In the morning headed on the MVT south to the 14th St Bridge, I always take that intersection extremely slow, like walking slow and have not had any problems yet. In the afternoon, headed North, I have almost been rear ended by other bikers when somebody is headed down from the Bridge, I actually appreciate it when those bikers ring their bell. Nobody really stops there but just coasts through after, hopefully, looking over their left shoulder to see that no biker has the righ of way.

[MCL1981]

Do you think the NPS would take a hint of we all went in there with paint thinner and belt sanders in the middle of the night?

[DaveK]

Whatever you do there it’s always going to be a problem… that section is more likely to freeze even if it were concrete just because it’s a bridge. No easy answers.

[Dirt]

I have to be fair to the runners in that section… If you get anywhere near the edge of that boardwalk the algae that has grown is as slick as snot. The frost is bad… the algae is worse. The two put together is virtually impossible to stand on… much less run, walk or ride. Middle of the trail and moving carefully is where you want to be.

[pfunkallstar]

NPS has a lot on its collective plate, the paint seems like kind of an afterthought. What is with that pattern by the way? Were they trying to save money? Anyways, refilling those potholes on Memorial Bridge would be pretty awesome, oh, and trimming back that tree that hangs over the trail on the way towards Rosslyn right before TR Island.

[Author]

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